MADRID – Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will play doubles together for Spain at the upcoming Paris Olympics, the Spanish tennis federation said on Wednesday.
The announcement comes three days after Alcaraz, 21, won the French Open for the first time – winning his third Grand Slam trophy.
The same courts used for the French Open every year will host Olympic tennis. Nadal has won the French Open a record 14 times.
Alcaraz, who will compete in his first Olympics, is widely seen as Nadal’s heir in Spanish tennis and often comments that Nadal was his childhood hero.
“Rafa and Carlos will play together in Paris,” said Spain captain David Ferrer when announcing the call-up.
Alcaraz defined winning an Olympic medal for Spain as one of his main career goals. He said after winning at Roland Garros that this year he would prefer a gold medal at the Paris Olympics to successfully defending his Wimbledon title.
“The Olympic Games take place every four years and it is a special tournament where you don’t just play for yourself, but for a country, representing all Spaniards,” said Alcaraz, second in the ranking. “I think this year I would choose Olympic gold.”
Nadal, 38, who will also play singles, already has Olympic gold medals in singles (2008) and doubles (2016 with Marc López), in addition to his 22 Grand Slam titles.
Nadal, who lost to Alexander Zverev in the first round at Roland Garros this year, said this is probably his last year on the tour after a series of injuries.
The other Spanish players on the men’s Olympic team will be Pablo Carreño Busta, Alejandro Davidovich and Marcel Granollers.
Captain Anabel Medina chose number 55 Sara Sorribes Tormo and number 67 Cristina Bucsa – the highest ranked Spanish players – for the women’s team, with Paula Badosa deciding not to compete as she only has two more events to play while using her protected ranking.
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